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Sorted by Archive: June, 2018 ( 1 post/s)

Customers of Parra Auto Care in Euless and North Richland Hills, as well as Mid-Cities Service Center in Euless may not realize this, but your shop is standing guard for you and your vehicle. Specifically, keeping your car’s computers up–to-date is critical, and we want to explain why.

Software Updates Ramp-up

In recent months, you may have noticed increasingly more frequent notifications that your home computer or mobile phone needs a software update. The reasons for the updates include functionality, security, and others. As the Internet of Things and smart device connectivity become more pervasive, expect more updates going forward.

Modern automobiles generally have 25 to 50 computer modules onboard, fueled by 100 million lines of software code, that communicate vehicle data across approximately 2.5 miles of wired vehicle networks. Software can have many bugs, most of them not identified until after new vehicles are purchased. Updates provide the remedies to bugs, but only once they have been properly downloaded and installed.

Raw Numbers

Automakers say more than 70 percent of 1995 and newer vehicles could benefit from one or more updates to the onboard computer modules. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), up until three years ago, the vast majority of vehicle recalls were due to mechanical issues. But in the last three years, more than three-quarters of all vehicle recalls have been due to software related issues, most of which require an update to be installed.

Then in May 2018, FBI Special Agent Paul Schaaf submitted a report to the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) that added fuel to the need for car owners to protect themselves. “Vehicles today are rolling networks. Over the past two years, the FBI determined more than half of all vehicle cyberattacks were initiated through personal mobile phones and tablets connected to a vehicle, not the vehicle itself. Once connected, the vehicle and the hacker can both crawl address books, emails, SMS messages, most visited locations and more. online in the last month, and vice versa. It’s then easy to steal your personal and financial data, as well as gain control of your car and/or all the data sources and connected devices inside it for theft, ransomware, or other malicious purposes.”Not sure of how your vehicle could be hacked? Watch the Consumer Reports video, co-produced with NHTSA.

How Can Parra Auto Care and Mid-Cities Service Center Help You?

This massive shift warrants your attention as a vehicle owner for performance, security and personal reasons. The bottom line is there are some things auto shops can do to help car owners and some things we cannot.

First, the bad news — Currently, no shop can address the threats your personal devices present. That control is solely yours to exercise. It’s your choice whether to use apps on your connected phone to text, surf, play music or navigate. But now that you’re informed and aware, realize such conveniences come with risks.

Some encouraging news — Automakers and the industry are now actively beefing-up security measures to protect vehicle and personal data. Chrysler and NASTF already moving toward two factor authentication, which would require all devices and users to be vetted and approved before any access to vehicle data networks is allowed. Some other automakers are developing the capability to deliver updates over-the-air (OTA), wirelessly and remotely via the Cloud, again subject to authentication protocols.

The good news — As your trusted auto repair shop, we can easily install the missing software updates your vehicle and get your car computers up-to-date. We highly recommend you have this service performed on your vehicle, to ensure your vehicle’s operating system still has the functionality you expected and paid for at purchase.

Parra Car Care in North Richland Hills, Parra car Care in Euless, and Mid-Cities Service Center in Euless serve motorists in North Richland Hills, Hurst, Colleyville, Bedford, Euless, and surrounding communities. If you would like your vehicle’s software updated, or you have some other auto repair concern, please call us, schedule an appointment online, or visit one of our convenient locations.